Re: behavior of @math with HTML output

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2022-10-14 11:30:33 +0200, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> On Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 12:40:08AM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> > On 2022-10-13 21:15:57 +0200, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> > All of them are buggy:
> >   * Concerning t4h,
> >       @math{@var{base} \le 16},
> >     yields "@varbase ≤ 16 ,", so @var doesn't work (while it is needed
> >     to ensure exactly the same typography/code as outside @math, e.g.
> >     <var>base</var>) and there is a spurious space before the comma.
> 
> In my experience, t4h is the one that tries harder to use characters
> for simple math and often succeeds.  Images are still used when it
> becomes too complex.  It is probably the best for your use.  As you have
> noticed, however, t4h only knows about TeX, not Texinfo.  It is actually
> said in the manual that @math should not contain Texinfo commands, in
> line with the 'recent' better handling of TeX/LaTeX:
> "In general, the contents of @math or @displaymath should be plain TeX only, 
> with no interspersed Texinfo commands."

I assumed that this was for commands that exist in plain TeX, which
is not the case of @var.

> In the upcoming version, there is a converter to LaTeX, which allowed to
> add the customization variable CONVERT_TO_LATEX_IN_MATH.  You could use
> that in conjunction with HTML_MATH t4h to have Texinfo @-commands
> produce TeX/LaTeX math in @math.  However, it won't do what you want in
> term of formatting, as, if I recall well, @var is a no-op in conversion
> to LaTeX in math mode, as math mode is already slanted.

Well, math mode normally uses italics, not slanted, but perhaps this
is changed by t4h (or Texinfo). There is another issue: math mode
disables kerning (because a sequence of letters typically means that
this is a product), unless some command is used to specify that this
is actually text. Not a major issue, but incorrect typography can be
disturbing.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
100% accessible validated (X)HTML - Blog: <https://www.vinc17.net/blog/>
Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / AriC project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)